What could be better balm in turbulent times than the calming, healing music of Stirling outfit Constant Follower? How about the additional hypnotic guitar skills of Scott William Urquhart and the words of Edinburgh poet Norman MacCaig performed in the wee after hours in The Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum?

Beautifully shot and directed by Michael Prince, their Scotsman Session contribution Watching The Black River Run is a favourite track from their recently released joint album Even Days Dissolve, described by Constant Follower mainman Stephen McAll as “very much a studio album. Scott and I don’t play live together and each of the collaborators’ parts were recorded independently before I brought it all together over many coffees in the studio. But this song’s a little different, it’s extremely beautiful stripped back to just the guitar and two vocals. It’s always a pleasure to sing with Amy [Campbell of Constant Follower] and the main gallery seemed the perfect spot to set up.

“The museum is a real jewel of Stirling culture,” he adds. “As well as housing the oldest football in the world – found in the rafters of Stirling Castle – it’s a focal point for Stirling’s creative community.”

Scott William Urquart & Constant Follower

McAll himself has become something of a focal point himself, bolstering and encouraging the city’s grassroots music community. It was while performing and promoting local gigs that he was first introduced to Urquhart’s music.

“I couldn’t believe that this guy lived just a few minutes from my house,” he says. “I listened to his album Rosie’s Smile and was so moved. All his earlier stuff was instrumental, but he has a way of creating such emotion.”

A collaboration was mooted and MacCaig’s poetry, already special to McAll, became the catalyst for Even Days Dissolve. “He’d been introduced to me by my incredible English teacher Mrs Tatarkowski and his work helped me through some very tough times,” he says.

And how. As a teenager, McAll was badly assaulted and took years to recover from the resulting head injury. Connecting with MacCaig’s poetry, especially experienced out in nature, became his path back to the songwriting and playing he had loved before he was attacked and Constant Follower’s gorgeous debut album, Neither Is, Nor Ever Was, became his ultimate expression of self-soothing acceptance.

Even Days Dissolve has been an opportunity to celebrate MacCaig more explicitly. “I initially thought about just reading out his words in a couple of songs, but I stumbled across some rare recordings of him reading his own poetry,” says McAll. “After some researching and negotiating, we were able to secure the rights. What an honour it is to take his actual voice, his words and surround them with our music.”

McAll and Urquhart are planning a follow-up album, while Constant Follower’s second album is already in the works with a Summerhall show during the Fringe, as part of the Nothing Ever Happens Here strand, set to showcase their latest material live for the first time.

Even Days Dissolve is out now on Golden Hum Recordings. Constant Follower play Summerhall, Edinburgh on 18 August, https://festival23.summerhall.co.uk/events/nehh-presents-constant-follower/

The Scotsman Sessions #369: Scott William Urquart & Constant Follower